Musical Icons and Pioneers of Ragtime Music

Abstract

Ragtime (rag-time, rag time) is a name given to music that was popular among the African American communities towards the end of the 19th century and the advent of the 20th century. The name is credited to Ernst Hogan who came from a village called Shake Rag in Bowling Green, Kentucky (Cook, 1947). It is from the ‘rag’ in Shake Rag that the name Ragtime is believed to have been derived. Generally, the music has an intentionally syncopated tone with the lyrics being colloquial. The style and content of Ragtime has borrowed a lot from the Cake Walk, another form of music and dance credited to the African American community which has a background in the slavery days (Cook, 1947). It was later however succeeded by Jazz, perhaps one of the most successful forms of music with an African American derived music (Paterson, 1999). 

This research paper looks at the origins of ragtime music, its development, waning and the several revivals. This is achieved through analysis of the initial opinion about the music and the opinion around the moment of its greatest revival in the 1970s when a Ragtime band won a Grammy Award (Paterson, 1999). The reasons behind the nature of the music have also been researched and analyzed. It is evident from the foregoing that Ragtime music was based on pride for the African American way of life, both as it was and as depicted by the general society in the Jim Crow Era. This depicted syncopated beat and lyrics based on intentionally colloquial English creates a celebration of what the world thought was wrong with the African American community. Instead of seeking to change the perception, the musicians were reveling in it. 

Introduction

The Ragtime music revolutionized the music scene in the USA and made the African American stand out as an able composer and entertainer to a multiracial audience (Cook, 1947). Traditionally, Africa American music was mainly focused on an African American community during cultural festivals and other moments that brought members of the community together. Many of the listenership outside the community was mainly based on sympathy or a desire to connect with the community (Paterson, 1999). However, Ragtime connected with an interracial audience and made them love both black music and black musicians begging the question what was so different about it. This was also in the Jim Crow Era when the black community was not very popular in the USA and racial discrimination was at its best (Paterson, 1999). This is the cultural issue that this research paper seeks to analyze from an argumentative perspective. Could it be that Ragtime became popular for the same reason that black standup comedy is in the last three decades? The origin of Regtime dates to late 19th century to early 20th century with many significant icons bringing it to light at a time when people expected the black people to be feeling inferior. The theme of pride is evident in the music as lyrics and tone fully shows a community proud of its nature.

Eddy Murphy, an African American standup Comedian was arguably the most popular comedian in the 1980s and some of his sales and income records have not been broken to date. Commentators place the secret behind the success of Murphy in encouraging people to laugh at him as a black man instead of trying to qualify himself and argue with the perception of the mainstream community about his ‘blackness’ (Paterson, 1999). Similarly, the Ragtime music both in the arrangement, beat, and lyrics was unapologetically black. Even well-educated musicians ensured that the lyrics contained colloquial words to emphasize the ‘blackness’ (Hardie, 2002). If this was the key to the success of the music, it can also be a fundamental factor in the ending of the contemporary racial discrimination in today’s America from a cultural and general perspective. Instead of color blindness and trying to smooth out the cultural differences, perhaps they should be celebrated freely interracially. 

History

Ragtime music did not happen in an instance neither can it be said to have been developed by a certain individual or at a certain time (Schafer et al., 1973). Its development entails a collection of independent factors and influences. Its history goes right back to Africa, where a majority of the black community in America came from as slaves (Hardie, 2002). These people came from a society rich in culture including music. They got locked up in a different world with a different culture and different form of music. The new culture got mixed up with the original African culture creating some sort of a hybrid. 

Further, due to the ways of life associated with slavery, an element of awkwardness was also introduced (Schafer, Riedel, Polad, Thompson, & Reidel, 1973). The initial precursor of Ragtime, therefore, had a mixture of the smoothness found in African music but with an underlying awkwardness that sometimes made dancing seem like jumping around. This resulted in the jigs and march music whose setting was extremely jumpy and was nicknamed jig piano and piano thumping (Paterson, 1999). A smoother version of this developed in the late 19th century and was called the Cakewalk, mostly held in black festivals. It is from a combination of the jigs and march and the cakewalk that Ragtime slowly developed (Hardie, 2002). 

A lot of credit in developing the music itself goes to composer Scott Joplin who composed the "Maple Leaf Rag", a pure piano beat published in 1899 (Hardie, 2002). This recording is pivotal to Ragtime music as a whole as it gave it an identity. The Maple Leaf Rag was clearly wild and jerky yet in the jerky nature lay an underlying element of beauty and smoothness (Schafer et al., 1973). Another important icon of Ragtime is Ernest Hogan, whose 1895 song “LA PAS Ma LA” was also a major hit and extremely successful (Paterson, 1999). Hogan had done a lot of Ragtime music before as he is credited with inventing the name Ragtime. Ben Harney is also worthy of mention albeit he did not add to the innovative nature of the music, he was a great marketer who moved Ragtime into the mainstream music scene (Hardie, 2002). The entry of Ragtime into the mainstream music industry also marked the entry of the African American into the mainstream music industry. Among the remarkable feats was the appearance of Hogan on Broadway; a feat celebrated as “ Negroes were at last on Broadway, and there to stay” (Cook, 1947, 61). 

A very unique mention goes to Irving Berlin who was neither an African American nor born American but a Russian. He composed the song "Alexander's Ragtime Band" which became a major hit in 1911 (Hardie, 2002). Despite being a white man from Russia, Irvine’s aforesaid song can be defined as “extremely black” including lyrics which has the kind of colloquial English common in the black community, a good example being "bestest band what am" (Schafer et al., 1973; Paterson, 1999). It is evident that Irving was not only playing, but also celebrating blackness and with great success in both black and white communities. The Ragtime beat waned in the 1910s with the advent of the more powerful Jazz music, which dominated the American music scene. 

There was a minor revival in the 1940s and 50s spearheaded by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis whose book Bible of Ragtime revived a lot in interest in the Ragtime music. Another musician is Pee Wee Hunt who made a great rendition of Euday L. Bowman's Twelfth Street Rag (Hardie, 2002). Ragtime may not be extremely popular today but its place in the history of American music is secured. It can be termed as the initial version of African American music to go into mainstream music in the USA. This is pertinent as African American music plays a major role in the contemporary American mainstream music. 

Ethnomusicological Theme

It is evident from the foregoing that Ragtime music was based on pride for the African American way of life, both as it was and as depicted by the general society in the Jim Crow Era. Max Harington is a Jazz musician who also plays guitar for a band that plays Ragtime music in functions and restaurants mainly for the love of the Ragtime and not for pecuniary reasons. In an interview with Harington, he expressed his belief that Ragtime music was the African American equivalent of the contemporary gay parades from a racial perspective. In the Ragtime, through both the beat and the lyrics, the black community was celebrating who they are unapologetically and without seeking acceptance through adaptation to the mainstream society. Instead, the community took pride both in who they were and who they were deemed to be. Instead of trying to prove to the world that they could change and conform to the society, Ragtime music sought to prove that black culture was beautiful as it was and did not need to be amended or transformed (Harington, Personal communication, 2016). 

This contention aligns with the contemporary success of the African Americans in the standup comedy scene. It is based on the attitude of allowing others to love the black community by being free to talk about it. In the case of comedy, laugh about it and in the case of Ragtime, dance about it. Instead of the black culture being considered as grotesque as happened with the Cakewalk, Ragtime seeks to have the black community and culture considered as different, yet beautiful. Currently, words like nigger that were used with abandon, even in mainstream media in the 1950s have become taboo (Hardie, 2002). Talking about peculiarities of the African Americans is termed as racism yet these steps have only enhanced the racist feeling in America. The ethic theme in Ragtime, of the American community being comfortable addressing their uniqueness and enjoying it is the key to reducing the impact of contemporary racism. 

In my opinion, racism is not based on the differences between races but on the attitude that individuals hold towards those differences. Irving Berlin was a Russian man who appeared in the American scene just as Ragtime music was becoming popular. He did not identify himself with the local Russian community or even the white community, but rather found identity in the black community (Hardie, 2002). This led him to create songs that were absolutely black in wording, language, and beat with great success. This only happened because Berlin found a black community that was proud of its culture. A black community that joined with the rest of America to enjoy the good things about the black culture and laugh together about what was funny about it. Racism is currently a major problem in the USA and the contemporary approach of color blindness is in my opinion only making it worse. It is time to try the “Ragtime approach”. An approach that will allow an African American to laugh at a “nigger joke” made by a white person and vice versa. In celebrating racial differences, America will be one again. 

References

Primary Sources

Cook, W. M. (1947). “Clorindy, the Origin of the Cakewalk.”  Theatre Arts 

This is an Article by William Mercer Cook that was published in the Theatre Arts magazine posthumously in 1947, after Cook’s passing in 1944. In it, Cook gives an analysis of Ragtime music, its musicians and how the beat was developed. Cook was a controversial figure and his writings may seem obnoxious to a conservative but his analysis was accurate. 

Schafer, W. J., Riedel, J., Polad, M., Thompson, R., & Reidel, J. (1973).  The art of ragtime: Form and meaning of an original black American art . New York: Da Capo Press, c1973, 1977 print 

This is a book about Ragtime music, its development and the main icons that made the Ragtime music so popular and famous. It also seeks to explain the premise of the music and its cultural effects. The book was written in the 1970s at a time when Ragtime music was undergoing a renaissance. 

Secondary Sources

Hardie, D. (2002). Exploring Early Jazz: The origin and evolution of the New Orleans jazz style, Writers Club Press, pp.178-179, 

This is a contemporary analysis of the Ragtime music, its era, and its cultural implications. It gives a more modern understanding of the Ragtime music with a hindsight capacity based in the influence of Ragtime in the contemporary music culture. 

Tertiary Sources

 Paterson, J. (1999). Ragtime Music - it's history, composers and influences. Retrieved from http://www.mfiles.co.uk/ragtime-music.htm  

This is a web article about Ragtime, its beginning as well as major players. It also looks at the journey that Ragtime has taken since the end of its popularity in the 1910s as well as the several revivals in the 1950s as well as the 1970s revivals. Literature and other world derived from the music are also outlined in the article. 

Harington, M. (2016, December 05).  Personal Communication . 

This was a video interview with Max Harington conducted on the 5th day of December, 2016. Harington is a successful Jazz musician who moonlights as a Ragtime artist purely out of passion and love for the Ragtime music and racial pride and an African American. Harington provides his personal inference on the meaning of ragtime music.